Arrive earlier than partner, gutted by online assignation? (7)
I believe the answer is:
predate
'arrive earlier' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'partner gutted by online assignation?' is the wordplay.
'gutted' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (to gut something is to remove its insides).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'online' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for electronic, e.g. in ecommerce).
'assignation?' becomes 'date' (an assigned meeting).
'partner' with its middle removed is 'pr'.
'pr'+'e'+'date'='PREDATE'
'than' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for predate that I've seen before include "Be earlier in time" , "Track down and feed off" , "Go before" .)